The Project

This 2-year research project led by the University of Exeter Business School will explore how small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food and beverage manufacturing industry (FBMI) of the South West of England can move towards the circular economy (CE), the benefits of the transition and what helps or hinders progress.

Until now, the principles and practices for achieving CE have been little explored within FBMI. The opportunities are probably substantial in this industry due to the ubiquity and severity of its negative economic, environmental and social impacts. These encompass the intensive use of land, water, energy and raw materials; toxic emissions to water and air; as well as vast packaging and food waste arisings, including significant losses of product and value across the supply chain. At the same time, the industry is vulnerable to many external factors from changing climates, land use and seasonality to perturbations in cost and availability of raw materials, energy, water, labour and other inputs.

Many innovations are now available, or in development, to mitigate these impacts and help manufacturers retain value in their processes. These approaches include the reprocessing of waste, by-products and surpluses into new products; packaging innovations; the installation of renewable heat and energy technologies; and sophisticated IT-based systems to streamline supply chains. But SMEs, accounting for 30% of employment and 26% of turnover in the UK industry, are often unable to access, and benefit from these innovations, due to limited financial, technical and other resources.

Our research will examine the challenges faced by selected SME food and beverage manufacturers in the SW of England, a region where FBMI is significant in terms of employment and GVA. Our partners, varying from a one-woman microbusiness to a medium-sized firm of 200 employees, make a diversity of dairy, bakery and meat products for regional, national and international customers via multiple sales channels (including traditional retail and online), and thus offer a valuable snapshot of the industry. These companies are committed to achieving CE, together pledging some £50,000 of in-kind support towards the work.

An interdisciplinary research team of sustainable supply chain experts, mathematical modelers, social scientists and engineers will work closely with these businesses, exploring and testing new technologies, processes, tools and product designs. A highlight will be the first application within FBMI of a ‘circularity indicators tool’ developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (a champion of CE theory and practice). In addition to one-to-one collaborations with our partners, we will bring them together for 3 workshops over the course of the project, to share ideas, solve problems and elucidate exactly what CE means to food and beverage SMEs.

The challenges faced by our project partners are not unique to the region and our findings will apply nationwide. In addition to academic outputs, we will maximise the impact of our research through public workshops at regional food festivals, an event with the All-Party Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group at Westminster and articles in the food industry trade press. We will launch a website, write case studies (both technical and for the lay reader), produce a web-based video and publish quantitative and qualitative datasets enabling others to explore the CE as it pertains to FBMI.